#$%#ing computer... printer help

[Viggen]

So both of my computers at work are both down, can anyone help or give me guidance??

Both computers use HP's 1020 laserjet printer & state print spooler error.  I go to HP's website & download the latest drivers... no help.... then they have a option for HP to find/fix the issue.... it allows me to print a test page however I can't print anything off my computer.  for some reason it had a different HP printer (1120) listed as well as the 1020 I use.  I can't seem to get the computer to use the 1020 as default printer or anything.

The computers didn't act up the same day, about a week apart & one computer is in centerville & the other in dayton

Anyone have any idea what I should do?

I right clicked on computer... then manage.... then services... services & I see print spooler is on automatic

[Neogenesis]

Is there anything stuck in the print spooler?  Basically are there any unprinted jobs sitting out there?

[Viggen]

I have cleaned out the spooler so it's empty

[Boonjob]

What were you trying to print... the format that is...

[Viggen]

anything.....

works documents mostly.....

.wps or .doc

[Viggen]

Well.... ended up reading on some forums, seems like the HP 1020 printers are know to be pieces of crap, just like a few of their brothers.... 1018 & 1022.  Everything I read made it seam like no matter what I do to fix the problem, it will come back sooner or later.

Ended up hooking up a larger copier (Brother) & it works fine... just need to do that at both places now.

What a PITA.....

[jeblin]

You could always attempt to use the old LaserJet 4 printer drivers, but you'll lose all the advanced features that are in the drivers for the 1020. Back in the day, everyone built their printers to be compatible with the LJ4 drivers and a lot of technicians will use it to test basic printing functions when they are troubleshooting printing issues. You will need to uninstall the old drivers/software for your printer just so it won't try to automatically switch the driver to the real one. You can tell your system to use a different printer driver but how to do it depends on what operating system you are using. I think everything Microsoft from XP and newer came with the LaserJet 4 driver built in.

Jerry